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Tip

Tip

To make strong coffee for this recipe, dissolve
4 tbsp of instant coffee in 4 tbsp of boiling water.

Method

Heat the oven, line the tins and make the sponge as described in the 'goes well with' recipe, sifting the cocoa powder with the flour and baking powder.

For the filling, beat the mascarpone and sugar together, then beat in the coffee. Use half the mix to sandwich the cakes and spread the other half over the top, swirling with the back of a spoon to make pointy curls. Finely grate the chocolate over the top, then serve.

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Comments, questions and tips

Comments

Unlike some other comments I actually find the sponge too dense. I wonder if it was because I used strong flour instead. But it is very chocolaty. Tastes good. So I changed the cake to 2 single layered sponge with icing poured on top instead.

I made this cake for my husbands birthday and he loved it! The marscapone cream was a bit runny, so i whisked it for a while on my food mixer and it came out perfect. Also i found it easier to melt the sugar in the hot coffee so it melted. Yum Yum!!

The sponge didn't rise which was disappointing. Was it because I used the wrong cocoa? Any tips anyone?
The coffee quantities were too much and made mascarpone runny with a very strong coffee taste. I had to add icing sugar and place it in the fridge to thicken it slightly.

Having refrained from chucking it in the bin, we went on with applying the filling. Despite a messy appearance, the cake tasted good went down very well with the family.

We will definately try this again, with less coffee [maybe 1/2 tbsp] and hopefully, once I know how, I lighter sponge.

This cake is delicious! I modified the ingredients a little to make it a bit lighter and only used 160 g of butter and sugar and only 3 eggs.
Also I used 250g of mascarpone and 200mls of whipping cream as this makes the icing a bit fluffier and a bit less calorific as well.
I also drenched the sponge in a bit of rum.
It turned out so well. Fast, pretty and delicious!!!!

Made this twice for work this month for big birthdays and will be making it again for Mothers day this weekend. This is without a doubt the most popular cake I have ever made!
Read the tips before hand and added the coffee one tsp at a time (tasting between!) to get the right taste & consistency - about 4 tsp for one tub of mascarpone. 1.5 tubs is about the right amount of filling (the rest goes in http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4251/chicken-cacciatore). The last one also had some tia maria in the mascarpone too - very yummy indeed.

I made this for a friend's birthday and was SO disappointed. The cake is great, but the tip about making strong coffee with 4 tablespoons of instant coffee ruined the icing, making it inedible (much too strong tasting). Better to use a double shot of espresso or strong filter coffee instead of so much instant coffee. What a shame I wasted so much mascarpone.....

i made this cake yesturday, was the most delious tasting cake i hav ever made! not dry at all but cooked about 20 minutes more than expected, but tht might just be the oven i was using :)
added walnuts and cake out really well, the perfect birthday cake for those coffee lovers as my dad would agree :)

ive just made this and is cooking in the oven, looks and smells yummy already, i wanted to add walnuts in into the mixture and so crunched sum up and simple exxperimented :)
will rate once is done but looks amazing atm! :D

Great recipe! The coffee frosting is absolutely gorgeous although I only put 2 and a half teaspoons of strong coffee in - 4 teaspoons would be far too much! The taste was still powerful and I love Mocha coffees so this recipe was perfect for me!

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